Welding Tips and Tricks

I just got a 2000 7.3 PSD VAN. Ford didn't put an inter-cooler in Vans. I'd like to make one but need a lot of help with design and ideas.

Puleeeeese help me


Charlie

they don't have a lot of room around the core support ....you may have to two-piece it ,or if you use one for a super-duty truck...add spacers behind the bumper, some ambulances have an add-on inter-cooler under the big step bumper (out front), you won't need that much room ,but two and a half inches would give you plenty of room for the heat exchanger...you will need to dismantle the grille and bumper to plumb the thing...maybe even pop a few 4" holes in the bulkhead/core support.

Are you talking about an air to air with one heat exchanger or air to liquid with 2 heat exchangers...and is the air to liquid type even needed?

My original thought was a liquid heat exchanger in a plenum to cool the air between the turbo and intake and a separate H/E out front to cool the liquid.

The air to air seems to have a bunch of ~3" tubing from the turbo running out the a H/E and then back to the intake...but I'm not sure cuz I haven't seen the whole system.

What do you recommend and what type is the stock truck type inter-cooler.


Thanks,

Charlie

As a matter of fact I am fabricating some intercooler end tanks right now! (Design is sheetmetal, but unlike any others I have seen... I will have to post up here about 'em in another thread. )

Just want to clarify what your goals are as a result of this modification... a cooler running engine, to make it more reliable? Maybe also going to add some more fuel, to up the power ? I imagine as this is a van, light weight is not a priority, as it may be if you were racing? I know that early ford powerstrokes were not intercooled, and the aftermarket did offer intercoolers for them as add-ons. Did ford add a factory intercooler at some point? Also, how much boost pressure are you going to run?

An air/water design could help you with tight packaging. Then you can just use an oil cooler like thing to cool the liquid (water/glycol.) The oil coolers can be very thin, and you can plumb very thin (and very long, if needed) hoses rather than large diameter boost tubes. The length of the induction system can be kept short and compact, with minimal volume increase, which is a good thing for quick boost response.

On the other hand, the water in an air/water intercooler at constant running state will be a bit hotter than ambient temperature, whereas with an air/air intercooler, the cooling medium is always at ambient temperature, so the air/water may have "heat soak" and not work as efficiently in extended use. The coolant can leak. If it leaks into the engine induction side, it could cause a catastrophic failure (engine hydrolock.) even a small leak wouldn't be good for the inside of the engine. There is an extra pump involved, which can fail. I would say the system is generally a little more complicated, with more that can fail and possibly need maintenance. I think that is why OEM vehicles usually use air/air coolers (they do have the luxury of designing other components of the system to allow them to fit.)

What to use depends on what space you have to work with, and its kind of hard to say without being there or seeing a lot of pictures. For air/air, sometimes they are bottom mounted, with air ducted from the bottom of the car to go up through them. Can you fit one in front of the radiator? That is a common spot to put one, but if there isn't enough room in front it could rule it out. You might be able to relocate the radiator a bit to shoe horn an intercooler in. If the car has A/C, would you be willing to delete it to eliminate the condensor to make more space for the intercooler? Just brainstorming here.

I just read a new theoretical idea for an intercooler that actually might work well for your situation: the "Fusion" intercooler, is an air to paraffin wax heat exchanger, where the wax functions as a heat sink material.

It would work like a water-air intercooler, but without the extra coolant radiator, lines, and pump. Paraffin melts at 125 F, absorbing a lot of heat in the process, (IE: when you are under boost and needing the charge air to be cooled.) When you are not needing to use power and are off-boost, the paraffin is cooled by the air running through the engine (which would be heated up, but not higher than 125 F.)
http://autospeed.com.au/cms/title_The-F ... ticle.html

I think it might work quite well in a diesel, where there is unrestricted airflow (no throttle plate) even at light / idling loads. It would be more compact that a traditional (air/air or air/water) intercooler, and would work well for situations where short bursts of power are needed from time to time. IE: accelerating from a stop light, drag racing, etc. It would not work well for endurance racing or perhaps towing something heavy up a long mountain pass.

Would you have room for a thick side mount Ic? I think the Supra's came stock with thick side mounts.

air to air seems to have a bunch of ~3" tubing from the turbo running out the a H/E and then back to the intake...but I'm not sure cuz I haven't seen the whole system